Year two Part two
Like Brother, Like Brother
The first night in Gryffindor Tower went as well as could be expected. The Marauders gave Regulus a tour of the house, telling him about all the different pranks they played on their own peers. Remus made quips about how they shouldn't be tainting Regulus already.
"C'mon Remus! He's a Black! A mini-me! He's been tainted since birth!" Sirius exclaimed. He was overly ecstatic that his brother chose to join him in Gryffindor. Regulus cringed.
"I refuse to be cursed with that moniker. The day I am a mini Sirius, please, I beg of you, kill me." Regulus said as serious as he could while looking deep into Remus' eyes.
"You're even overdramatic. You're going to have to try harder to get out from under his shadow because Sirius has made quite the name for himself." Remus teased as he held eye contact with Regulus. Reg sighed and fell into a couch in front of the fireplace. They all started laughing. It was a Friday night, so they spent the evening laughing and running between the common room, the first year's dorm, and the second year's boy's dorm. Sirius "helped" Regulus settle in, but in truth, he just threw all of Reg's clothes on the floor. After Regulus finally had all of his things unpacked and put away, the two Black brothers bid each other goodnight and went to bed.
The next morning James found himself awake at 5:30, just as he did every morning. The only problem he had with this, is few other people were awake at five in the morning, so he was all alone. James did not sleep like any normal child. He dozed, kind of like a cat, but was asleep during the night, instead of the day. He would sleep on and off throughout the night and could function on five hours of sleep at the most. So, when he and his friends all went to bed at ten the night before, he would wake up off and on throughout the night, finishing whatever homework he had left, and then was wide awake at around five in the morning.
No one quite understood how James was one of the top students in almost all the classes he took, yet he was never seen with a textbook in his hands. Nor did anyone ever see him paying attention in class. It was all very confusing for the people around him. Except for Sirius and Remus who had gotten used to it and stopped questioning what James does, or doesn't, do.
Although James didn't like how he was always the first one awake, he did like the time he had alone in the morning. Especially this year, because Quidditch tryouts were to start on there the second week at Hogwarts. James was determined to do everything I his power to be on the team.
On this particular morning of September, the second, James went down to the Quidditch pitch to practice, so he could spend the rest of his Saturday with his best mates. James would make a habit of waking up, going for a run, and practicing quidditch every morning of his Hogwarts career henceforth.
One thing he didn't know was that he had a stalker. Well, she wouldn't call herself a stalker, in fact, she would call it "know thine enemy." Lily Evans would never admit to following James around every morning, but Severus often found it very disturbing. Because James is as oblivious as he is, never noticed.
It wasn't until about 8:30 in the morning until Remus and Sirius finally made it out of bed and into the Great Hall for breakfast. Regulus was the first to greet them. Reg thought he slept for the perfect amount of time, always waking up at 7 in the morning, getting ready and eating breakfast by 8. Rems would sleep until noon if you let him, but he always hated how much of the day he wasted that way. Sirius couldn't really sleep past nine, but he enjoyed just lying in bed and bathing in that sleepy feeling you have when you first wake up.
Sirius sat down on the left side of the Gryffindor table, facing away from the rest of the hall, as he normally does, while Regulus decided to sit across from his brother and next to Remus. Just then did Sirius notice that James was not present in their group.
"Where's James?" Sirius asked.
Remus shrugged, "Probably off somewhere bugging Lily." Sirius seemed to think this a reasonable answer, but Regulus did not.
"Why does James bug Lily so much? And why do you hate Severus?" Reg questioned.
"James has a huge crush on Evans. He thinks they're going to get married someday. We hate Snivellus because he's a snake and because he started it." Sirius explained.
Remus rolled his eyes, "No," he drawled, "James hates Snape because he's jealous of his friendship with Lily. Originally, I don't think James had the intention of getting on Snape's bad side. Sirius, you hate Snape because James does and because when you first met he implied that you should be killed for calling Lily a Mudblood." Regulus shook his head to try and understand this new information.
"First, you called Lily a Mudblood? Oh, ye who is so high and righteous!" Regulus mocked, "Second, what was the context of the conversation?"
"Yes, he blurted it out within the first ten minutes of being a Gryffindor. Not in a bad sense though, just as if he was curious and didn't know another word besides Mudblood. Then, I believe, Snape was mad at him for calling Lily the 'M' word, then James said something about 'he even apologized,' and then Snape made a point about if a rabid dog apologizes should it not be put down. Then I told him something like he was the rabid dog, not Sirius. That is the history of why we have quarrels with the boy." Remus concluded. "But I did apologize for the incident and did not cause any further squabble, they kept it going. Not that I'm innocent in the cause."
"You do know I can speak for myself, right?" Sirius told him.
"Yes, but when you talk, it never comes out right nor the way you want it too." Remus enlightened.
Regulus chuckled. He knew just how true that was. James eventually came in following a thoroughly irritated Lily.
"Evans! We both know you'll have to succumb to my charm one day. Why put up the fight?" James yelled across the Great Hall. Some of the noise went away as people started looking for what was happening.
"Potter, the day I 'succumb' to your 'charm' is the day I ask to be admitted to St. Mungos. I swear that I will never like you!" Lily yelled back, cheeks almost as red as her hair as she realized that the room started to stare at the two second years.
James just smirked and sat down at the table, eyes still following the redhead as she went over to the Slytherin table to pull her greasy-haired friend to the library.
"She loves me. I know it!" James announced dreamily. Sirius looked at him with concern written all over his face.
"James, you do realize what love is, right?" Sirius asked carefully. Regulus also stared at James with alarm.
"Is he delusional?" Regulus asked Remus.
"Only when it comes to Lily." He answered. Regulus tilted his head.
"I noticed that you're the only one who calls her Lily, why?" the younger boy wondered aloud.
"Only people she can tolerate are allowed to call her Lily, I guess she can tolerate me." Remus explicated.
The rest of the weekend was filled with James and Sirius telling Regulus of last years escapades. The first two weeks went by relatively smoothly. James did spend the entire day before tryouts bothering Sirius and trying to get him to practice throwing the quaffle back and forth. Remus was just glad James and Sirius were busying themselves, so Remus could get a head start on school work.
James, of course, was the Quidditch captains first pick when tryouts commenced. James was in the air barely five minutes before the captain picked him. Gideon Prewett, one of the beaters along with his brother Fabian, decided to initiate James into the team by challenging him to a duel. James was never one to turn down a fight, so he accepted enthusiastically. The duel ended with Professor McGonagall interrupting and giving Gideon detention because "He should have known better than to challenge someone who wasn't on his level." James, of course, took that as a great offense. How could he not be on the seventh years level? Certain, James did not know all the material Gideon did, but surely, he was on his 'Level.' This only led to James getting two hexes and ending up in the Hospital wing for the rest of the day.
Time passed, and the 23rd of September drew nearer. James nor Sirius nor Regulus knew exactly why Remus started looking so sickly again. Regulus also didn't know that it was a regular occurrence.
"Remus, are you alright?" Regulus queried for the fifth time that day. Remus was starting to get scared. James and Sirius were so thick headed they never were able to tie together all of Remus' symptoms, nor did they notice him half the time Remus was sick. However, Regulus within the first day of Remus' ailment, noticed something was wrong.
"I'm fine! I said I was fine. I am always fine!" Remus bit and stomped away.
"Oh, little brother, you're going to just have to learn what Remus does and not ask why. Sometimes he gets sick, goes home and then comes back seemingly injured, happens almost recurrently now that I'm thinking about it. We just learn not to question it, because when we do, we have a mad Remus on our hands. That is one thing you never want, a mad Remus Lupin." Sirius informed Regulus. Reg thought for a moment.
"Wait, you said this happens often? How often?" he asked. Sirius thought for a moment.
"Well, there was my birthday," Sirius began.
"And his birthday," James interrupted.
"Yeah, and you might count New Year's."
"There was also that time near the beginning of the year,"
"And that time near the end." Sirius continued.
"So at least five times, that we remember," James concluded.
Regulus stared at them astonished, "How can you not notice your supposed 'best mate' just disappearing and coming back injured?"
"Well in our defense," Sirius had to think for a moment to find an excuse, "we had a lot of detention in the second half of the year." Regulus rolled his eyes.
"Well, if it happens a lot this year, then we should keep track. Remus may not want us to know if there is a problem, but if he's getting hurt I think we have a sort of right to find out and protect him. Or at least find someone who can help him." He explained.
"Yeah, your right! We do have a right as his friends to protect him!" Sirius agreed. James sat there looking thoughtful.
"Doesn't he have a right to his own privacy?" James inquired.
Sirius smirked, "If he had wanted privacy, then he shouldn't have befriended us."
A/N Hey, I know you guys wanted chapters, so I decided to make them shorter. Now I can get them out quicker. I'll definitely be able to get out one a month, hopefully, two, depending on my schedule. My workload should lighten up now, hopefully. Anyway, thanks for reading!
~Marauderfascination